Month: November 2018

Could nature’s smallest organisms help us to combat rising CO2 levels and even oil spills? Strange as it might seem, the answer might be yes, with research into newly discovered deep-sea microbes suggesting these tiny critters possess a keen appetite for pollutants. The microbes – collected in the Gulf of California, around 2,000 metres (6,562

Which store-bought vegetables have fewer pesticides on average? originally appeared on Quora: the place to gain and share knowledge, empowering people to learn from others and better understand the world. Answer by Janice Person, works in agriculture, on Quora: As someone who has been out on farms and watched pesticides applied, who’s seen that food

WASHINGTON — As SpaceX prepares to launch a Falcon 9 carrying dozens of small satellites, some experts are worried that it will be difficult to track and identify the satellites once in orbit. The Falcon 9 flying the SSO-A mission for Spaceflight Industries is currently scheduled to launch Dec. 2 from Vandenberg Air Force Base

If classic monster movies and old science experiments are to be believed, life begins with a spark. Not everybody is convinced by this kind of origin story, so the search continues for sources of energy capable of transforming a prebiotic soup into a life-generating dish. Maybe the secret ingredient isn’t anything more shocking than a

East Africa is famously the birthplace of humankind and the location where our ancient hominin ancestors first invented sophisticated stone tools. This technology, dating back to 2.6 million years ago, is then thought to have spread around Africa and the rest of the Old World later on. But new research, published in Science, has uncovered

SINGAPORE (Reuters) – Researchers in Singapore are seeking a patent for a new sound-proof and heat-resistant material made from recycled plastic bottles they say could help reduce plastic waste dumped in oceans and clogging landfills. FILE PHOTO: An NUS researcher shows an Aerogel pellet at NUS’s Department of Mechanical Engineering in Singapore November 23, 2018.

NASA’s InSight spacecraft’s successful landing on the flat equatorial plains of Elysium Planitia represents just the beginning of a years-long effort to understand whether Mars’ interior dynamics bears any resemblance at all to Earth’s. InSight team celebrates sucessful landing.Credit: NASA/JPL But more importantly, what can Mars’ inner workings tell us about the formation of planets

WASHINGTON — NASA has picked nine companies, ranging from startups to aerospace giants, to be eligible for future contracts to deliver payloads to the surface of the moon, but with no guarantee of business for any of them. NASA announced Nov. 29 the selections as part of its Commercial Lunar Payload Services (CLPS) program, where

Jumping spiders are already among the most adorable members of the arachnid order, but we’re ready to give them the prize, officially. A species of ant-mimicking jumping spider has just been found suckling its babies on milk. You know what else does that? Kitties. Doggos. Mousies. But Toxeus magnus is much more diligent than mouse

NASA’s next lunar science experiments will arrive at the Moon via a spacecraft built by one of nine private companies – a first for one of the agency’s science missions. In an announcement Thursday, the space agency named the organizations that are now eligible to bid on delivering science and technology payloads to the lunar

WASHINGTON (Reuters) – A prehistoric 15-foot-long (4.5 meters) whale that sucked prey into its mouth represents a key missing puzzle piece concerning the evolution of today’s huge filter-feeding whales, scientists said on Thursday. An illustration showing an artistic reconstruction of a mother and calf of Maiabalaena nesbittae nursing offshore of Oregon during the Oligocene, close

Psychedelic drugs continue gaining momentum as potential treatments for mental health conditions, and a few are close to going mainstream. MDMA, the key ingredient in the drug known as ecstasy, is near the top of that list. Already recognized for its ability to stimulate emotional connections, new research adds to the drug’s therapeutic profile by suggesting that it delivers

WASHINGTON — The Federal Aviation Administration has named an Air Force general who previously ran the launch facilities at Cape Canaveral as the new head of its commercial space office. The FAA announced Nov. 29 that Wayne Monteith will become the next associate administrator for commercial space transportation, effective Jan. 20. Monteith is an Air

WASHINGTON — Planet, Spire, BlackSky Global, Kepler Communications and several other startups made progress deploying constellations of communications and remote-sensing satellites last night thanks to the launch of an Indian Polar Satellite Launch Vehicle. A total of 30 small satellites flew as secondary payloads with the Indian Space Research Organisation’s HysIS hyperspectral imaging satellite when

In the land down under, sticking out in a crowd is rarely a good thing. Australians have a habit of cutting “tall poppies” down to size, frowning on those overachievers who are too big for their own boots. An exception has been made for Knickers the giant cow, long may he reign. Right now, Knickers is

Have you ever stopped to wonder exactly how much light has been produced by all the stars in the Universe, over all the time that has passed? Well, now you can wonder no more. An international team of astronomers has actually calculated the amount of starlight in the cosmos. And it’s teaching us new things

Tourists take pictures of a NASA sign at the Kennedy Space Center visitors complex in Cape Canaveral, Florida April 14, 2010. REUTERS/Carlos Barria ORLANDO, Fla. (Reuters) – NASA on Thursday named nine U.S. companies, including Lockheed Martin Corp, that will compete for funding under the space agency’s renewed long-term moon program, a private-public undertaking to

Share to facebook Share to twitter Share to linkedin Nine US companies are now eligible to bid on new NASA delivery services to the Moon as one of the agency’s first steps towards long-term human exploration of the Moon and beyond. The Commercial Lunar Payload Services (CLPS) contracts will be up for grabs to companies

This week, a Holstein by the name of Knickers captured the heart of the Internet by standing horns and shoulders above a herd of cattle on a farm in Australia. And there’s no arguing that the lad is large. At the shoulder, Knickers stands a mighty 6’4″ (193 centimetres), which means he’s two inches taller

Much like Egypt’s pharaohs, the emperors of China’s Western Han dynasty had a thing for being buried inside pyramids – although less recognisable than the iconic ones we know from places like Giza. Scattered along the outskirts of Xi’an along the banks of China’s Wei River, the sides of these burial mounds align with the